Khyber Pakhtunkhwa top recipient of remittances: Study

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province is top amongst all the four provinces in terms of per capita expenditures on household as it is the biggest recipient of remittances from abroad as well as within the country.

It was the finding of research paper titled “Is Consumption Pattern Homogenous in Pakistan? Evidence from Pakistan Social Living Measurement (PSLM) survey” presented by Dr Ashfaque Hasan Khan, Dean NUST Business School and economist Umer Khalid during a PIDE conference on Wednesday.

The research study revealed that the proportion of total households receiving remittances is highest in KPK where nearly 31 percent of all households received remittances in 2007-08, with this proportion higher for rural sector of the province at 36 percent.

In Punjab, over 19 percent of the households were getting remittances, with this proportion being 16 percent and 22 percent in urban and rural areas respectively. The share of households receiving remittances is lowest in Balochistan and Sindh at around 2 percent.

In terms of the marginal expenditures shares, households getting remittances have a lower spending at the margin on food and drinks in all the provinces.

In case of fuel and lighting, marginal expenditure shares of remittances recipient households in all provinces except KPK are lower than those for their counterparts not receiving remittances. On the other hand, households receiving remittances spend more on education in all four provinces, especially Balochistan, in comparison to non recipient households.

In another presentation on economic, political and institutional determinants for budget deficit, the experts stated that the rampant corruption led to more exposure to the budget deficit.

In another session on Economic Reforms and Competitiveness, former chairman Competition Commission of Pakistan Khalid Mirza said that the poorly conceived and poorly implemented regulations became worst than having no regulations and the same was the case related to enforcement of competition law.

While referring to recent observations of the Supreme Court, he said that the regulations were quite crucial to run the economy on smooth basis.

He said that the government’s dominant role was problematic but whatever space was available to market forces it should act fairly and judiciously.

The regulators like SBP, CCP and SECP must observe three ‘As’ by ensuring putting in place autonomy, appropriate and accountability. The regulators should be accountable not to the government but to the Parliament and the civil society, he concluded.